It is news that didn’t make any headlines at all but that should really be of concern to all Newcastle Knights supporters.
According to the News Limited, Newcastle Knights were not paid on time this month. While players have since been paid, my experinece is that when you hear about these delays in players payments, you need to start to question the financial viability of the club.
In England we have seen a number of times when players are not paid on time. Clubs always, without fail, come up with excuses for these delays. Everything from an administrative error to long weekends have been used. They are almost always a precursor to a club falling over.
There are already questions about the Newcastle Knights ownership with Nathan Tinkler having to come good on a guarantee that he will put $10.3 million into the bank to safeguard the Newcastle Knights future by March 31st. If he does not come through with that payment he is obligated to sell the Knights back to its members for $1. That’s right…one dollar!
Players shouldn’t take late payments lightly. I have said before that any player who does not get paid on time should not take part in any club activities at all until they are paid. After all, this is not a charity, these a professional athletes.
The National Rugby League will no doubt be keeping an eye on the Knights situation.
One of the Knights long term sponsors, The West Group, has already pledged that they will step in and keep the Knights alive if Nathan Tinkler does not come good with his bank payment.
The National Rugby League would also be likely to step in with some sort of funding package to keep the Knights going until they sorted out their ownership situation.
In reality, the Newcastle Knights are under no threat of going under. They are too important to the NRL to allow that to happen. To have issues with the current ownership however and miss player payments is a real concern.
Hopefully this is a one off, the bank payment goes in and this is all a none issue.
You can read the Newcastle Knights take on the situation by clicking the following link. Keep in mind…I’ve read plenty of press released just like this by at least two previous administrations that ran the Bradford Bulls before they collapsed…
Link: A message for Members and supporters
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